Welt for hosiery



Aug. 22, 1944. L; D. WAGENHORST WELT FOR HOSIERY Filed Oct. 23, 1943 Imventot Cttornega Patented Aug. 22, 1944 WELT FOR HOSIERY L ester D. Wagenhorst, Reading, Pa., assignor to The Nolde and Horst Company, Reading, Pa.,

' a corporation of Pennsylvania Application October 23, 1943, Serial No. 507,369

My invention relates to a well-known type of stocking made by longitudinally folding a suitably knitted flat fabric blank and seaming together its side edges, and more-specifically it relates to the usual double thickness welt formed at the top of such stocking by an infolded fabric flap, the present improvements being especially adapted for and particularly applicable to narrow welts made in accordance with my prior Patents No. 2,260,960 of October 28, 1941, and No. 2,286,- 659 of June 16, 1942.

Such narrow welts, because of present war conditions and the need of conserving'materials, are a much preferred construction as reducing the cost of knitting the blanks through a substantial saving of the yarn required to form a stocking; but this saving has been more or less offset by such narrow welt requiring joint seaming together of both side edges of the folded welt involving extra costs for this operation.

It is well known that such seaming, as performed by a usual special sewing machine adapted for this purpose, operates best with least trouble and greatest economy when joining the edges of fabric of single thickness, and, therefore, my present main object is to conserve the yarn saving economy secured with said narrow welt'construction bymaking a stocking which eliminates from such welts any requirement for double thickness seaming together of both folded fabric edges.

With this primary object in view, my present invention relates to a novel and improved construction of the folded-over welt top of as tocking, the nature and advantages of which will be more fully set forth hereinafter'in' connection with the accompanying drawing and feature defined in the appended claims.

In'the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal rear perspective view of a known type'of stocking made by seaming together the side edges of a flat fabric blank, and showing a preferred narrow top welt for which my improvements are particularly applicable. I Y

Fig. 2 shows on an enlarged scale a longitudinal front perspective view of the top portion only of the stocking indicated in Fig. 1, and discloses an inside view of the; rear meeting and seamed together edges of a welt top made according to a preferred embodiment of my invention.

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic showing of a flat fabric stocking blank partially knitted to a length for forming my improved welt.

Fig. 4 is a view corresponding to Fig. 3, but

the novel showing a later stage in the knitting, with the 6 Claims. o1. 66-173) welt completed and a partial continuation of the fabric blank extending below the welt line-junc; tion course. l

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic longitudinal fabric section, taken on the line'5-5 of Fig. 4.

The best known type of stocking for which my improvements are particularly applicable is gen erally known as full fashioned, and is commonly made in well-known manner, by knitting.

a suitable fiat fabric blank on a usual straight needle bar knitting machine; forming the welt top during such knitting by folding downfa top fabric portion and interknitting its lower edge in a welt junction'course; completing knitting of the blank fabric; and finally seaming together the side edges of the blank; all as heretofore well understood, and requiring no further description. 1 The seaming of the fabric edges, as heretofore made on known special sewing machines adapted for thepurpose, readily operated on old wide welts having a deep fold by first uniting the single thickness side edges of the outer portion of s aid fold and then continuing aroundthefold bend to unite the single thickness of the inner fold edges of said welt, in a common and recognized manner, economically produced. a

It will be readily seen however that such usual seaming of the welt is not possible with the pres ent preferred yarn-saving narrow welt having a shallow depth fold, not separable as in' al-wide welt for seaming together first the outer and then the inner single-thickness edges ofsaid welt-fold. These preferred narrow units require sci-called double thickness seaming by necessitating'simultaneous uniting of both fold edges at one side of the welt with both side edges at the other side of said welt, and the resultant increase in the cost of this operation.

Fig. 1 represents a usual full fashioned stock ing having a leg portion I, a preferred narrow top welt portion 2, and a longitudinal seam 3 'extending to the top of the fold line of said welt;

In Fig. 3 I have indicated the knitting of the upper end of the fabric blank for making such narrow welt, and have embodied therein my novel construction for producing my improved welt; As.

heretofore I lay a first course of loops across the needles 5 and engage them on the hooks of a usual welt bar 6 as more fully described in my aforesaid patents, but for my present purpose, such course is laid across only a medial portion of the row of needles subsequently to be employed to knit the desired fabric width, leaving unengaged needles at each side of said first laid course.

By the use of the usual widening mechanism of such known knitting machine, I gradually bring into knitting action all such originally unengaged side needles to widen the successive courses of knitted loops either in frequent narrow steps or less frequent larger steps, so as to produce the fabric portion I with angularly inclined side edges 8 and 9 extending to a first full width course indicated by the dotted line III. This fabric portion I forms the folded over portion of my improved welt, the dotted line I indicates the fold line for such top portion, and II indicates a full-width knitted continuation of the fabric blank having parallel side edges I2 and I3, containing a number of loop coursesequal to the courses in the portion I, and terminating at a.

2,356,484 .i f 'f .1

the upper end of said welt and extending there-- welt junction course indicated by a repetition 5' q of the row of needles 5. I

The fabric blank thus far knitted as shown Fig. 3, will produce a preferred embodiment of my improved welt, which is completed as shown in Fig. 4, by folding over the portion 1 on the portion H along the dotted line I0, and reengaging the first laid course of loops with the needles in known manner. As shown, however; thefirst laid course of loops "being narrower than the full width of the fabric,-only medial needles in said weltjunction'course will be employed, leaving uncovered parts at each side of the portion II, between the angularly inclined side-edges 8 and 9. of portion I, and also leavin 'free thesideedges I2 and I3 of portion I I, to form single thickness fabric edges in my improved welt. Theledges 8 and 9 of the portion 1 need no attachment to the fabric portion I I or inclusion withthelater added longitudinal seam, as they are sufficiently held by the interknitting of the lower edge of said fold I with the main loops forming the welt junction line 5'. With the completion of turnng the welt, as above, the remainder of the stocking blank is knitted as heretofore, tobecompleted by the usual operation of seaming together its side edges. I p

With my improved .welt construction as above fully described, it will be clearly evident that the finishing seaming operation-is greatly simplified and cheapened, as only single-thickness fabric edges are required to be united, and-the seam maybe run to the top of the Welt without any difficulty. This single-thickness of the side edges of the welt may be otherwise accomplished than-by the preferred manner above described, .as bypar-al lel sides throughout a narrow width of the folded over flap portion of said welt. Also the fold line I0 may be made with usual picot'loop stitches to ,ornamentally finish the welt fold as heretofore. 1 a From the aforesaid description it will be clearly. apparent that my improved construction accomplishes my aforesaid object of-simplifying and cheapening the seaming operation, thussaving and increasing the economies secured by the use of ,allnarrow welts. The particularconstruction described may of course be modified and changed within the scope of myinvention as defined in the following claims.

What I claim is:

from in opposite angular directions from the side edges of the outer welt fold and being spaced 'freefrom engagement by said longitudinal seam.

3. A welt top for a flat-knitted fabric stocking,

comprising afolded-over top fabric portion having spaced-apart fashioned edges diverging in increasingly progressive steps inwardly from the meeting side edges of the fabric portion on which it is folded, and a longitudinal seam extending to the upper end of said welt and engaging only the single meeting edges of the latter. .4. The methodof making a turned-weltv top portion in a. fiat-knitted stocking-forming fabric blank having single thickness seam uniting side edges, which consists in knitting a first course of a less number-of loops intermediately disposed lengthwise relative to a later knitted full width course of loops, adding successively knitted courses to said first course and gradually increasing the number-of loops in certain added courses by a widening knitting thereof so as :to form a down-foldable tapered, top-half portion of the welt having oppositely inclined side edges extending from the ends of said first course to the ends of a full width course forming the folding line for said top portion, adding to said fullwidth folding line course a succession of knitted full width courses of loops equal in number of courses to the-number of courses in-said top portion to a welt junction course, folding down said top welt portion and interknitting its first course of loops with aninterwidth disposed portion of the loops forming the weltcjunction course so as to leave single thickness .welt side edges extending outwardly beyond the inclined side edges of said folded down top portion, and adding additional knitted courses to said welt junction course to complete the stocking forming-blank.

5. Aflat-knitted stocking-forming blank having side selvage edges and anintegrally knitted turned welt at its upper end, the downwardlyfolded inner portion of said welt having selvage edges extending from said welt fold in inwardly inclined spaced relation relative to the selvage edges of the outer fold portiong-of .said turned welt. v

- 6. A stocking formed from a flat-knitted-fabric blank having side selvage edges throughout its length,-a turned welt at its upper end, and a longitudinal seam unitingsaid selvage edges, the selvage edges of the inner fold of said welt being spaced inwardly from and-free from engagement bysaid 'seamuniting the selvage edges of the outer fold of said welt.

. LESTER D. WAGENHORST. 

